Machine for cleaning fiber.



No. 821,571- PATENTED MAY 22, 1906. W. A. ADAMS.

MACHINE FOR CLEANING FIBER.

APPL IOATION FILED JUNE 23, 1905.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l INVENTOR WiLLiAM A. ADAMS ATTORNEYS ANDREW. a comma cu,PHDfO-LIYMOGRAPHEHS. WASHINGTON :1v 0.

No. 821,571. PATENTED MAY 22, 1906.

W. A. ADAMS. MACHINE FOR CLEANING FIBER.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 23, 1905.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2 ATTORNEYS INOREW. a (mum cu. FNOYc-LIYHDGRAPHERS,wAsnmerou :v

efficiently as is done by hand.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MACHINE FOR CLEANING FIBER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 22, 1906.

Application filed June 23, 1905. Serial No- 266,662.

To (tZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WILLIAM A. ADAMs, a citizen of the United States,residing at Winchester, in the county of Clark and State of Kentucky,have invented a new and useful Improvement in Machines for CleaningFiber, of which the following is a specification.

My invention is in the nature of a novel machine for breaking andcleaning hemp and other fiber from the pulpy matters investing the same.

An efficient machine for cleaning hemp has for many years been a greatdesideratum, but none has so far been able to do the work as In myobservation and experiments I have found that it is practicallyimpossible to clean hemp by passing it in one direction through amachine, for the reason that when the tail end of the bunch of hempenters the space between the breast and rotary cleaningdrum, there beingno tension on this tail end to resist the scraping action of the drum,the hemp is not only not cleaned at the butts, but is badly tangled up.

My invention proceeds along the lines of first cleaning one end of thebunch of hemp and then withdrawing it and reversing it to clean theother end.

My invention consists of a novel construction of machine for doing thisand also in the combination therewith of an air-blower which acts uponthe hemp between the period of its protrusion into the machine and theperiod of its withdrawal, whereby two important results are obtained,one of which is to loosen up and thrash about the hemp by this blast ofair while in the machine and be-' tween two distinct operations of themachine on the fiber and the other of which is to prevent the fiber fromwrapping around the drum or its journals, as will be hereinafter morefully described with reference to the drawings, in which Figure 1 is avertical longitudinal section of the machine; and Fig. 2 is a sideelevation, partly'in section, of the feeding and revers- 1ng gears forfeeding the hemp part way into the machine and then withdrawing it.

In the drawings, H is a revolving drum with breakers h on its outerperiphery.

J is a curved breast between whose concave side and the revolving drumthe hemp j A B represent an upper pair of rolls which distend afeed-belt A, and C D represent a corresponding lower pair of rolls whichdistend a feed-belt C. Between these belts the hemp is fed through anopening in the easing into the space between the breast J and drum H.The lower rolls C D turn in stationary bearings, while the upper ones, AB, (see Fig. 2,) turn in adjustable spring-seated bearings, whereby anelastic-and adjustable pressure is brou ht upon the hemp between the twofeede ts to inch and hold the hemp against the pull of t e cleaning-drumand to withdraw it again therefrom when it is-to be reversed.

M is a feed-table on a level with the space between the feed-belts A C,on which table the hemp is placed when it is to be fed to the machine,and c is a small roller placed a little below the table M and in frontof the roller 0 and between which two rollers c and O the cleaned hempis fed down by a reverse movement of belts A 0 onto a belt E, distendedabout rollers E F.

O is an inclined board extending from the bottom of the breast Jdownwardly and forwardly to a point some distance in front of the drumH.

I is a fan which takes in air at the center and delivers it forwardlyagainst the rear side and bottom of the drum, the direction of thisblast of air being indicated by the arrows (1.

K is a deflector-board hinged at the rear end of the machine andprojecting forwardly to a point beneath the drum This deflector isadjustable about its pivotal center, so as to increase or diminish theopening between the deflector and the drum and so modify the current ofair passing forwardly under the drum.

L is a discharge-pipe extending from the rear end of the casingoutwardly and opening into the casing at a point below the deflector K.

For reversing the travel of the feed-belts A C (see Fig. 2) a shaft S isarranged longi tudinally to the machine in bearings on a level with theshafts or rolls 0 D. This shaftis driven bya small bevel-gear s from abevel-gear H on the drum-shaft. On the shaft S are two loosebevel-wheels s 8 and between them on the shaft S is a sliding clutchsleeve S, which plays between the gears s s and alternately engages aclutchface on the adjacent ends of said gears. This thrown to the ri ht,it looks gear 8 to the shaft and turns t e wheel S and its roll and beltin one direction. When the clutchsleeve S is thrown to the left, thegear 8 runs loose and gear 8 is coupled to the shaft,

and as this is on the opposite side of wheel S it turns this wheel, itsroll, and the feed-belt in the opposite direction. The rolls A B C D maybe geared together for positive action or they may be run byfrictionfrom the feed of the belts as driven from the wheel S The operation ofmy machine is as follows: The hemp placed upon tableMis fed between thebelts A G into the machine and passes between the breast J and therevolving beaters of the 'drum. The hemp is allowed to pass in abouttwo-thirds its length, the outer third of its length being tightly heldand pinched between the feed-belts A C and the rolls B D, so that thefeed devices never loose their restraining hold on the hemp. After thefront portion of the hemp has been acted upon the feed mechanism of thebelts A C is reversed and the hemp is slowly drawn back again out of themachine and onto the table M. The bunch of hemp is now turned end forend, and the direction of the feed devices being again reversed, theuntreated ends of hemp are now run into the machine and acted upon. Thegears are now again reversed and thehemp drawn out and allowed to passdown between rollers e and C and onto the discharge-belt E.

I will now describe the peculiar action of my machine upon the hemp inthe operation above described. When the hemp is first projected into themachine,.the hemp is acted upon between the curved breast J and therevolving beaters h; but during this advance of the hemp into themachine practically no cleaning effect is produced, the effect beinglimited mainly to the breaking of the hemp or the disintegration of thestalk or leaves into shreds. When the hemp is introduced,

its advance is continued until it passes down below the lower end of thebreast, and at this point the blast of air catches it and throws itforward under the sloping or inclined roofboard 0, where it is threshedabout and loosened up, so that the preliminary mechanical breaking isfollowed by a pneumatic whipping, which actively separates and partiallydislodges the ul and wood matters from the true fib ar. The fibers ai ethen drawn slowly back in amore or less open and disheveled condition,in which they are now prepared for the dislodging effect of the beaters,which are still revolving in the same direction, and as the fiber isdrawn out back ward the heaters clean off all the remaining particles ofpulp which have been loosened by the pneumatic whipping, and-the fiberwhen withdrawn comes out as perfectly cleaned as is ordinarily done byhand. This pneumatic whipping, it will be seen, is made to take efiectat an intermediate stage between the initial breaking of the hemp andthe final cleaning, which takes place on the backward movement. Thisblast of air not only gives most remarkable and valuable results incleaning the fiber, but it also strips the fiber off the drum II andprevents it from becoming wound around the same or around its journals,and thus avoids all tangling. In fact, the effect of the pneumaticwhipping is to produce not only a clean fiber, but a very straight andsmooth one, giving it a thorough dressing, by which it is well adaptedfor all subsequent industrial uses. The particles of pulp and woodymatters that are beaten and scraped off the fiber are forced along thepath indicated by arrows b and pass out through the discharge-pipe L. Byadjusting the deflector K higher or lower the air-blast may beconcentrated with greater or less intensity at any point along the fiberbelow the breast. If desired, the operator can throw the feed-rollersout of gear, allowing the drum and pneumatic whipping devices to give anextra long cleaning in case the hemp is hard to work from not beingsufliciently rotted. Another advantage of the-reverse cleaning of theopposite ends is that when the hemp is of uneven or varying length, asis generally the case, the restraining-rollers hold the hemp, as it isonly fed a little more than half-way into the machine. This insures theholding of the short portions of the hemp near the middle while it isbeing cleaned, so that the drum cannot jerk out the short fiber andtangle it up in the machine, the reverse 4 cleaning insuring that bothends of the hemp shall be thoroughly cleaned and dressed.

In carrying out my invention I may vary the details without departingfrom my invention and propose to embody in my machine any of the usualadjustments of the breast, the feed-gears, and other working parts ofthe machine.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is

1. A machine for cleaning fiber, consisting of a revolving breaker, abreast between which and the revolving breaker the fiber is fed, andmeans for directing a pneumatic blast against the fiber after passingthe breast and in a. direction reverse to the direction of revolution ofthe breaker.

2. A machine for cleaning fiber, consisting of a revolving breaker, abreast between which and the revolving breaker the fiber is fed, meansfor directing apneumatic blast against the fiber after passing thebreast and in direction reverse to that of the revolving breaker, meansfor feeding the fiber into the machine and holding the same and meansfor reversing said feed to withdraw the fiber after having had one endacted upon.

3. A machine for cleaning fiber, comprising means for breaking theplants and for scraping and cleaning the same in two peri ods and meansfor pneumatically whipping the fiber between the said periods.

4. A machine for cleaning fiber, consisting of a revolving breaker, abreast between which and the revolving breaker the fiber is fed, aclosed chamber extending forwardly below the breast and means fordelivering a pneumatic blast below the breaker in reverse direction tothe revolution of the latter.

5. A machine for cleaning fiber, consisting of a revolving breaker, abreast between which and the revolving breaker the fiber is fed, aclosed chamber extending forwardly below the breast and having aninclined upper surface and means for directing a pneumatic blast againstthe inclined surface to thresh the fiber as described.

7. A machine for cleaning fiber comprising a revolving breaker and meansfor directing a pneumatic blast against the revolving breaker in reversedirection to that of the breaker to strip the fiber off from the breakerand prevent wrapping around the same as described.

8. A machine for cleaning fiber, consisting of fiber breaking andcleaning devices, two pairs of feeding-rolls bearing upper and lowerendless belts, means for reversing the feed of the same, a feed-tablearranged on the level of the space between the feed-belts, a rollerarranged between the adjacent ends of the feed-table and lower feed-beltto direct the cleaned fiber downwardly and a subjacent discharge-beltfor removing the cleaned fiber substantially as described.

W. A. ADAMS. Witnesses:

T. L. Tom), L. T. HAGAN.

